


Explosions

by Merkwerkee



Series: Being Bruno Hamilton [2]
Category: Masters of the Metaverse
Genre: Explosions, Whumptober 2019, during his time in the Vietnam War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-23
Updated: 2020-02-23
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:37:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22854835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merkwerkee/pseuds/Merkwerkee
Summary: Landmines make carrying out sabotage missions difficult
Series: Being Bruno Hamilton [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1643020
Kudos: 1





	Explosions

It took twenty minutes for the plan to go straight to hell.

Bruno cursed under his breath as sirens blared in the camp and yet another explosion rocked the shallow depression in the land that was only a valley by virtue of the hills to either side. The camp itself was heavily netted to disguise it from the air, and the bushes dragged to ring the camp had razor-wire hidden in their branches; now it started to more resemble a kicked anthill, men in several different kinds of uniforms shouting in seemed to be mostly Cantonese.

Bruno had been dubious about the premise from the start, but it hadn’t been his place to speak out. A couple of spooks had put a bug in Colonel Earnest Sandhever’s ear about the place, and nothing would do but a covert infiltration of it to get all the goodies the spooks’d promised would be there. Its tactically unsound position, added to reports of a lot of Chinese involvement and the possibility that more serious construction would likely be underway soon had the colonel hopping and Bruno had been sent with two fireteams less than 48 hours after the spooks had arrived with the initial report.

By luck or by providence there’d been a sheltered drop point less than 10 miles out from their target, at the base of some cliffs. They’d dropped in quick and quiet, and had spent the next twelve hours getting into position. One team would approach from the West, the other from the North-East, and both would ex-filtrate South. Primary objective was intelligence gathering; secondary objectives included removing any identified Chinese officers or other key personnel, sabotaging any research or defenses they could get their hands on, and - if determined to be necessary - destroying the encampment.

Bruno had elected to lead team two, approaching from the Northeast, and had given Cpl Yancy Watkins command of team one and their westerly approach; team two would have to come up and over the hill so if anyone was likely to be spotted on approach, it would be them. Team one would have a more sheltered approach between two hills and would likely have made entry into the compound first, if not for -

Another explosion sounded and Bruno scowled. Either team one was still trying to push forward through the minefield - unlikely, they knew better - or the minefield had been done by a piss-poor excuse for a demolitions expert and the mines were too close together and debris was setting them off. Either way, this action had just gone _very_ loud.

A quick gesture had his team scrambling down the side of the hill as quietly as they could, and into the shadow of the bushes around the perimeter. Cutting the wire took time, long seconds dragging by as PFC Cook clipped and bent the evilly glimmering wire away from a thin spot in the bush itself. The alarms had thankfully stopped, but the shouting continued and while Bruno wasn’t exactly what you’d call fluent in the language, he picked up enough words here and there amidst the hubbub to know not to expect a rendezvous with team one.

For all that Bruno might have wished otherwise, team one’s mistake afforded them an opportunity he couldn’t pass up. With all the attention firmly fixed on the opposite side of camp, and a silent thanks to whatever was left of team one, Bruno and the rest of team two slipped through the makeshift bush fencing virtually unnoticed. One unfortunate young man in the uniform of the local military had caught sight of them, but LCpl Wayne’s knife caught him in the throat before he could compromise their position, and PFC Higgs dragged the body under the cover of a nearby tarp before they moved on.

A few more bodies dropped as they moved through the compound, and Bruno could feel his nerves stretching like piano wire. His men were good, but with the base on high alert they should not have been able to get this close to what appeared to be the central command tent; that feeling solidified when, cutting through the canvas back of the tent, they found the thing empty. Papers were strewn about like snow, like someone had left in a hurry with whatever they could carry and had dropped the rest.

Bruno didn’t like it, but the primary mission objective was intelligence so with a series of hand gestures he set the others to gathering up the papers as he took a look around. The hubbub in the compound was starting to die down - not good - but nobody was approaching the command tent from outside. Yet.

A quiet exclamation from PFC Cook had him back to the room with the others in the space of a heartbeat. There, only half-covered in obvious haste, was the entrance to what appeared to be some kind of tunnel and Bruno’s resolve sharpened.

“Rig it.”

The command was delivered quietly but PFC Cook wasted no time in getting out what explosives he had, the others handing over their munitions as well. In the space of about twenty minutes the tunnel mouth was wired with small blocks of C4 and a timer, while grenades with tripwires were placed at every entrance. One last sweep for any papers or valuables they might have missed, and they were back out the slit in the back of the tent.

Ex-filtrating south proved much harder than infiltrating from the north had been. As the alarm had died down, internal sentries had resumed their patrols and anyone who had been off-duty had gone back to their preferred off-duty activities. More than once, Bruno and his men wasted precious minutes frozen in the shadows while two sentries chatted with each other less than ten steps away. It took them three-quarters of an hour to finally reach the south-facing bushes, and another ten minutes to cut through enough of the wire for all of them to be able to slip through.

The original ex-filtration route beyond the perimeter had called for both teams to follow the landscape down between two hills; given what had happened to team one, Bruno elected to go up and over the nearer hill. Team two was halfway to the crown when a muffled thud slammed through the ground beneath their feet and the alarms that fallen silent in the compound began blaring again. A series of smaller explosion follow shortly, and a tell-tale red flickering light begins painting the hillside.

At the top of the hill Bruno looked back just once. A third of the camp was on fire, while a surprisingly large crater marked where the command tent used to be. It didn’t make up for the loss of team one - Watkins, Smith, Freeman, and Jones, may they rest in peace - but an accomplishment of stated mission objectives would have to be enough.

Bruno didn’t look back again.


End file.
